Just Seven Days
by Haryn-kid
Summary: Rin Matsuoka has a strange habit of agreeing to date the first person that asks him out on a Monday. It doesn't matter who it is - at the end of the week, they all hear the same words: "I'm sorry. I couldn't fall in love with you." Then Haru gave it a try. Rin x Haru. A lot of romance, some humor, some hurt!
1. Monday - part I

_(A/N: I'm not sure if this would be considered a crossover. None of the characters from Seven Days will show up in the story; I just liked the idea of Haru and Rin going out for a week and falling in love during that time and all that. And what's great is that those of you who haven't read Seven Days can still understand what's going on._

_It was also very difficult for me to decide who would take the role of Shino and Seryou, aha. I felt like Rin's personality would have fit Shino's but then I wanted him to be 'the Seryou' too. And I've always thought that he'd be the ladies' man in the group. AU, I guess? Since Rin's at the same school as the others, along with some other things. Took me a long time to write this. Sometimes you can write well, sometimes you can't, you know?)_

* * *

_Monday - part 1._

* * *

Haru hated Mondays.

_Five_, he counted silently, allowing a bubble to escape his mouth with each number he mentally marked off. _Four, three, two…_

The door to his bathroom slid open and Haru sat up slowly, water streaming down the ends of his hair and across his skin.

"Good morning, Haru," Makoto greeted him, and as per usual, held out a hand for Haru to take.

"You should stop barging in every morning," Haru responded, pausing only a second before locking his hand around Makoto's. Water splashed back into the tub where it came from as he stood up. "What if I hadn't been wearing my swimsuit today?"

"You wear it everyday," Makoto said, his smile bright as always. "I don't think I need to worry about that. And if I _didn't_ come over - " Here Makoto let go of Haru's hand and raised his own to wag his index finger at Haru in a gesture of gentle admonishment. " - you'd just sit in your bathtub all day and never go to school!"

"So?" Haru stepped aside and reached toward the rack for a towel. "I don't see anything wrong with that."

Makoto laughed. "I'll wait for you outside, Haru."

Haru tossed the towel over his head and sighed. Another long week loomed ahead of him and Haru most certainly wasn't looking forward to it. After rubbing the towel against his hair in a halfhearted attempt to dry it, he swiped the cloth across the rest of his body and tossed it aside. He left the bathroom, albeit reluctantly, and headed for the living room.

"Makoto, are you hungry?" he said as he tied an apron around himself, taking extra care to completely cover his swimsuit underneath.

Makoto was standing by the door, waiting for Haru to hurry up and get ready already. _Breakfast is obviously not on his list of priorities now_, Haru thought, shuffling across the room.

"If it's mackerel again, then I'll pa - "

"Forget it."

Monday mornings were the worst, and even the drool-inducing smell of cooked mackerel couldn't do much to improve that.

* * *

The walk to school felt longer than usual. Makoto's chatter filled one ear while the sounds of the ocean drifted into the other.

"...and then Nagisa said…"

_Crash._

"It was pretty funny how Rei screamed…"

_Splash._

"...probably shouldn't have done that, though…"

Haru wanted to go home.

_Soon_, he told himself, sighing as he forced his eyes away from the clear blue of the ocean and toward the gray exterior of their destination. _What an eyesore._

They passed through the gates. Haru glanced up as they went by the large clock outside, watching the second hand tick by. It was eight twenty-five in the morning.

"We should hurry," Makoto said. "We're going to be late."

While Makoto seemed to have the uncanny ability to know exactly what Haru was thinking most of the time, that was far from what Haru was concerned about at the moment.

His mind had only begun to stray back to his watery fantasies when a voice cut across Makoto's.

"You're getting on my nerves," Haru heard that voice growl. He hesitated for only a second before slowly, subtly slanting his head to the left, just enough to catch a glimpse of red - a shade so shockingly vivid, so out of place within the drab walls. His eyes ran across the crimson locks for a moment longer than necessary.

_Well, if it isn't Rin Matsuoka._

"Come on," someone Haru didn't recognize and assumed was the redhead's friend whined. "There's got to be some kind of trick or something. How do you do it?"

"I don't _do _anything," came the harsh reply.

"Why do all the chicks swoon over you, then?"

"Fuck if I know."

"Yikes. It can't be your sunny personality." Haru almost voiced his agreement. Instead he kept his mouth shut and his eyes at a point where he could still see them in his peripheral vision, but could not be considered downright staring.

"So…" Matsuoka's friend thumped the side of his fist on the palm of his other hand, as if something had suddenly been made clear to him. "They must all be going for your looks!"

"What?"

"You've got those weird sharp teeth and you frown too much, but your face is pretty nice to look at, I'll give you that."

"What the - "

"And you know how girls dig muscular bodies. No wonder they overlook your personality!"

"Shut _up_ already."

"Hey, if you won't tell me how you get all the girls, could you at least give me some tips on how to get G - "

"I'm not letting you date my sister."

"Oh, come on."

A hand suddenly blocked his view of them. It waved once, twice, and Haru blinked and looked away. "Haru?"

"Sorry. Let's go." Without realizing it, Haru had stopped walking. Now he followed Makoto, who smiled and said, "That was Rin Matsuoka, wasn't it?"

Haru shrugged. Rin Matsuoka was someone he knew only by name and face, and definitely not someone that needed to be at the forefront of his mind right now. His thoughts returned to water.

* * *

"Good morning, Haru!"

"Morning."

Nagisa did that cheerful little skip-bounce-hop toward them and leaned forward to grab Haru's hands. Earnest eyes peered up at them and Haru wondered at the liveliness behind them. Even the prospect of school and work and everything else, really, couldn't dull that.

"Guess what? Guess what, Haru, Makoto?"

Makoto voiced what Haru could not be bothered to say. "What is it, Nagisa?"

"You know that ice cream store near the school?" Nagisa barely paused for breath before blurting out, "I went over this morning and they have a new flavor now and I think we should all get some after school!" He sucked air between his teeth as he grinned broadly, cheeks flushed pink with excitement. "So? So? Wanna go?"

"No," Haru said, just as Makoto said, "Sure!"

"Haruuu," Nagisa whined, and before he had time to react, Nagisa had buried the top of his head in Haru's stomach. A muscle in his cheek twitched as Nagisa pushed against Haru, his fingers still wrapped around Haru's. "Come _on,_ Haru, it's ice cream, you can't say no to that, you always say no to everything I suggest, it's not _fair_ - "

"Okay, Nagisa. Get off me now."

Nagisa's tousled locks left Haru's uniform and his face brightened considerably. "Awesome! I'll just have to tell Rei."

Haru pried Nagisa's fingers off his hands and went to his desk. The other two followed him, bringing their needless conversation with them. Haru felt a sigh building in his throat as he settled down in his seat and stared out the window.

"It's Monday," Nagisa was saying.

_No shit_, Haru thought in reply. He didn't look away from the window.

"That means Rin Matsuoka - you guys know him, right? He'll get a new girlfriend this week!"

"We saw him when we were coming in," Makoto said.

Nagisa cupped a hand over his mouth as if about to confide some incredibly important top secret secret to them, looking all too ready to share some gossip. "I heard some girls talking about it earlier - someone called Asako or Ayako or something is going to confess today!"

"No one's ever lasted more than one week though, have they?" Makoto put in.

"That's right." Nagisa leaned in closer, lowering his voice dramatically. "And I've also heard that at end of every week, he tells his date exactly this - " All childish gaiety vanished from his tone as he imitated Rin's low, gruff voice. "'_I'm sorry. I couldn't fall in love with you._' And then, he breaks up with her."

"If they know that, why do they still ask him out?" Makoto wondered. "Surely one week's not enough time for most people…"

"One week's enough to feel like a dream! He's a lot fun to hang around, and he treats the people he likes really well!" Nagisa gushed. Had Haru not known any better, he'd have sworn that Nagisa also once had his one week with Rin Matsuoka. "He can really make his date feel like she's in paradise! He'll do anything she wants during that one week."

"How do you know all this?" Haru spoke for the first time.

Nagisa winked. "The girls talk about it all the time! A ladies' man like me is bound to know these things."

"Who's a ladies' man?"

"Rei! Hi!" Nagisa said, spinning around on his heel to greet Rei. The latter pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and nodded to the others in greeting. "Hey, do you wanna go to the ice cream store later? There are new flavors and stuff…"

"Maybe Nagisa, too, has a 'go out with a girl for a week' thing that we don't know about," an amused Makoto said to Haru, as Rei gave an affirmative, much to Nagisa's delight.

Haru's reply was a noncommittal noise made in his throat.

"Ah, time to go!" Nagisa said, whipping his head around to stare at the clock on the wall. "Come on, Rei! We've got to get to class!"

"That's the reason I came to get you," Rei mumbled under his breath, but Nagisa didn't seem to have heard him.

"Bye Haru, bye Makoto! I'll see you guys later!" With a frantic wave of his arm, he looped his other around Rei's and half-steered, half-dragged him away.

"Goodbye," Rei managed to call out before they disappeared behind the closing door.

"Cute, aren't they?"

"Huh?"

Makoto laughed, sliding down into the seat next to Haru's. "Those two."

"What do you mean, 'cute'?"

"They're like little kids - Nagisa especially."

"I suppose." Haru didn't think there was anything particularly 'cute' about them.

"Nanase Haruka!"

Haru looked up. Miss Amakata waved a piece of paper at him. "Come over here, please."

His chair scraped against the ground as he pushed it back, sighing inwardly. _What now?_

"Could you bring this down to the office?" she said as he made his way over. Much to his disgruntlement, in her arms sat a thick stack of paper, which she was quick to thrust at him. "Thank you!"

Haru tried not to make a face as he adjusted his grip on the stack. Makoto leapt up and held the door open for Haru when he neared it. "Thanks," Haru muttered without looking at him, but he didn't have to do that to know Makoto must be smiling his usual friendly smile. Why he was so optimistic all the time was beyond Haru's comprehension. He stepped out into the hallway and braced himself for the long walk ahead.

Of course he had to run into someone at the corner and drop the entire stack before he'd even made it halfway to the office. He supposed part of it was his own fault, staring at the burden in his arms rather than where he was going, but he blamed the other for running toward him first.

"Shit, I'm sorry."

"I can get it myself," Haru said, gazing back down at the mess on the floor. Rin Matsuoka crouched beside him.

"I'll help."

Haru didn't object.

"Nanase, right?"

Haru nodded.

They were both silent as they shuffled the papers around, trying to restore it to its previous neat and tidy state. What they managed was a pile of papers that stuck out in all directions. Just as Matsuoka was pushing those stuck out corners back into place, Haru, remembering the conversation they'd just had a few minutes ago, said, "Has anyone confessed to you yet?"

Matsuoka blinked. "No, not yet."

Just then, Haru was struck by an impulse. Curiosity drove him to act on that impulse.

"Go out with me."

"Huh?" As expected, Matsuoka's face revealed only bewilderment. The rounded eyes and slightly gaping mouth made him look almost child-like. _Nice for a change_, Haru thought, recalling the frequent frowns and less than friendly scowls that occupied Matsuoka's face more often than not.

"How about it? You said anyone's okay with you. That means I am too." Haru only wanted to know how Matsuoka would react. "Doesn't it?"

"I guess." He sounded mildly uncomfortable, but Haru noted that he didn't immediately dismiss the idea either. "I've never had a _guy_ ask me out before."

"I've never asked a guy out before today." Haru rose to his feet, hastily stacked papers clutched in his arms. For someone who had only ever had females flocking after him, Matsuoka didn't seem too perturbed by the notion of dating someone of the same sex. "I should get going now."

"Oh." He glimpsed Matsuoka's eyes closing in one last confused blink, before he fully turned away and started back down the hall. "I'll see you later, then," Matsuoka called after him.

_Later?_ Haru echoed in his mind, rounding the corner, thankfully without any more collisions. _Why would we be seeing each other later?_

It wasn't until he reached the office when the thought occurred to him - so suddenly that it was almost jarring. Instinctively he looked back, as if he could somehow see Matsuoka, as if that way he could confirm what he only just realized had to be true.

_Did he… actually take it seriously?_


	2. Monday - part II

**Monday - part II**

* * *

_(A/N: Wow, this took me some time. I blame school and writer's block and everything. It doesn't help that I'd be in the mood to write something loaded with feels and then something hot the next when this chapter doesn't have any of that, either. This was originally going to be written in Haru's perspective only but then I changed some things around and I didn't like having more than one POV in one chapter but I did that anyway just because. I was a little confused but it's okay now. _

_Also, for those that reviewed, thank you! I made sure to reply via PM. As for the Guest, thank you too! Here it is. orz i can't write romance seriously alksjgslc trying anyway)_

* * *

Rin made it through the day in a confused daze. Distracted as he was by this new... _type _of date he was to have this week, he did not hear his name being called until the caller was right up at his ear.

"_Matsuoka!_"

Rin's body moved in a startled jolt. Mikoshiba let out first a sigh then an amused laugh. He settled down beside Rin, his lunch in hand. "Jumpy, aren't you?" Leaning back against the wall, he angled his head to look at Rin. "What's the matter?"

"What do you mean what's the matter? Nothing's the matter."

"You look like you just saw a ghost."

Rin blinked.

"So?" Mikoshiba pressed on. His eyes lit up suddenly in apparent understanding. "Don't tell me - an ugly girl asked you out this time!"

"That's not it." _Not even close_, Rin added inwardly.

"What… Oh, I see! You didn't get asked out at all, did you?"

"Why do you sound so happy about that?" Rin said, steering well away from Mikoshiba's question. Although he couldn't care less what the people around him thought of his 'relationships', he felt unusually reluctant to reveal the identity of his date of the week. He told himself that it was because he still needed some time to process it - Nanase had came and went so quickly that Rin could hardly keep up. The possibility that it might all just be a joke occurred to him once, but Rin had a hard time believing that Nanase was the type to kid around. His clear eyes and straight line of a mouth was all seriousness, nothing else. Even Rin, despite not knowing Nanase very well at all, could see that.

"What's this week's girl like, anyway? If you _did_ get asked out."

"Uh." Rin blinked again, jabbing at the rice in his lunchbox with his chopsticks. Distant noises of chatter and laughter seemed to grow more prominent in the silence that suddenly took over the two of them. "Well."

_For one, it's not a girl this week._

"Cute?" Mikoshiba prompted.

Rin's mind's eye immediately leapt to Nanase's face - recalling glimpses of startlingly blue eyes, and dark hair that formed a frame around them.

_Cute?_

"If you mean just the face… I guess. Not too bad to look at."

"What about the rest of her, then?" Mikoshiba's hopeful tone made Rin want to both laugh and punch him in the face to shut him up. "Like, her chest and ass or something."

"Flat-chested. Hardly any ass." It wasn't a lie.

Mikoshiba laughed, deep and booming. "Doesn't sound like much of a catch."

"Of course you'd only go for a girl's looks."

"Yeah, and I bet this new girl of yours has a great personality."

"I don't know." Rin brought a clump of rice to his mouth and chewed thoughtfully. "We haven't really talked before."

"And you still accepted?" Mikoshiba shook his head in bemusement. "Well - you do every time." Being obnoxiously blunt, he didn't hesitate to ask whatever it was that caused a spark of curiosity that flickered in his eyes. "Why? You could have anyone for as long as you like - hell, you could have a different girl every _day_, or you could reject every one of them and they'd still worship you. "

Rin's shoulder raised in a careless shrug. "I don't want to disappoint them."

"What - and breaking up at the end of the week wouldn't disappoint them?"

Rin didn't answer. Mikoshiba looked expectantly at him for several long seconds but Rin was silent, refusing to even meet his gaze.

What Mikoshiba didn't know was that Rin was no less disappointed than the girls he broke up with in the end.

* * *

"That's cheating, Nanase."

Haru looked up so quickly that it was surprising his neck didn't snap. That was…

"It's not my fault he won't let go of me," he said, shoving at Nagisa, who only tightened his hold on Haru.

"Cheating?" Nagisa echoed, half of his face still buried in Haru's sleeve. The visible eye peered up first at Haru, then darted over to Matsuoka. Haru's eyes followed suit. "Hey, what do you mean, cheating?"

"When two people are da - "

"I'm going," Haru said loudly, quick to put a stop to Matsuoka's sentence. He received a raised eyebrow in response but he didn't care, because Nagisa's ears and fat mouth were present and he really didn't need that right now.

"You can get off now," Matsuoka said to Nagisa. _As if Nagisa will listen to that_, Haru thought irritably, but Nagisa only gave a startled blink, then, soon afterward, a playful wink. "Alright! I'll catch you later! And Haru, Haru," he added, pulling on Haru's sleeve, "don't forget, we're getting ice cream later."

Haru shook him off.

Nagisa bounced away, leaving only the echoes of his merry laughter behind. Haru straightened his uniform, absentmindedly smoothing out the folds, and turned away.

"Wait up - where are you going?"

Haru glanced back. Matsuoka was close behind him. "Home." _Where else?_

"I'll walk with you."

Haru only turned away for the second time in silence, leaving Matsuoka with the option to stay or to follow. _Of course he chooses the latter,_ Haru thought, hearing footsteps fall into step beside him. _He thinks we're… dating or something, after all._

Instinctively, Haru looked to the side opposite Matsuoka.

_Just pretend nothing happened._

And so he continued to do so. Matsuoka did, too, for a while.

* * *

"Nanase, do you have a phone?"

The quiet answer came after a short pause. "Yes."

"What's your number?"

"I don't know."

Rin rubbed the back of his neck. "I'll give you mine, then, and you can call me."

Nanase hesitated, as if thinking carefully about something, then rooted around in his pocket. His fingers emerged empty before they searched the other pocket, then the bag slung over his shoulder. "Oh. Here." Rin barely had any warning before a phone was carelessly tossed at him; fumbling fingers managed to grasp it before it hit the ground.

"It takes too much effort," Nanase said, eyes straying away. "You do it."

A muscle in Rin's cheek twitched.

Moments later, Rin handed the phone back. "I'll call you later."

Nanase's head bobbed in the slightest of nods as he stuffed the phone in his pocket.

They were walking along a road and went that way for a while, Rin speaking up occasionally and Nanase nodding or shrugging in reply. Used to giggles and sighs at every word he uttered, Rin didn't know if this difference that was Nanase was better or worse.

_It doesn't matter though, does it?_

"Hey, Nanase."

"Hm?"

They arrived at the bottom of a stairway. Rin peered up at the row of houses lined up at the sides, and wondered which one was Nanase's.

"Let's call each other by our first names."

This earned him a puzzled glance. "If… that's what you want."

"You can call me Rin, then."

Nanase started up the stairs.

Rin blinked. "Oi - "

"Haruka."

And he continued upward.

Rin watched him. Not for long, though, because he had to head back as well.

He couldn't help but wonder if he'd have to delete a contact from his phone again, after the week was over.

* * *

Haru hadn't expected Rin to call so soon. It took him a moment to realize what the sudden burst of noise that exploded from his pocket and the insistent buzzing against his thigh meant, and another moment to tug his phone out. He put it to his ear.

"Hello?"

"_HARU, YOU'RE A TERRIBLE PERSON_!" someone yelled, shrill and sounding close to tears. Haru's eardrums throbbed.

Wincing, he leaned away from the phone in his hand. "Nagisa?"

"You promised that you'd go eat ice cream with us! Didn't you? Didn't you?" Nagisa's voice faded for a second but Haru still caught the desperate "Didn't he, Rei?" that came from the other end.

"I forgot," Haru proceeded warily, when Nagisa's loud breathing filled his ear once more. "I told not to forget right before you left! I should have gone with you after all - "

"Don't make such a big fuss about it, Na - " Haru heard, but Nagisa's voice cut across Rei's. "I was _so _worried because you didn't come and you said you would and I thought something might have happened - "

" - Makoto _did_ say not to worry, Nagisa - " Rei again.

" - and we were gonna have so much fun and we did but you weren't there so it wasn't the same and - "

" - I'm sure Haruka had his reasons - "

" - you didn't even get to try this new awesome flavor they had but I did - "

" - we could always go another time with Haruka - "

" - it was like peppermint and chocolate and oreos and this orange stuff all mixed together - "

" - that 'orange stuff' was - "

Haru looked at the phone and hung up.

Before he even had the chance to throw the phone as far away from him as possible, in case another lunatic was to call him again, the phone blared for the second time.

Figuring that Nagisa wouldn't leave him alone until this matter was settled, Haru answered and pressed the phone back to his ear. "_What_ now?"

"Someone sounds mad."

"Matsu - Rin," Haru corrected himself, his voice louder than usual in his surprise.

"What happened?"

"Nothing." Haru paused to kick off his shoes. "Nagisa was being dumb."

"Nagisa… the blonde kid?"

"Yeah." Haru tossed his bag in the living room and headed for the bathroom. A relatively eventful day like this demanded a long, hot bath afterward.

"Anyway… I was thinking," Rin began.

"Were you now," Haru said, sliding the door to the bathroom open.

"You're so funny." Despite the sarcasm, Haru for some reason imagined a slanted smile on Rin's face. "Anyway, I got these movie tickets. Want to go see something tomorrow?"

"I don't know." Haru worked one arm through the armhole of his shirt, wriggling it free.

"Let's go."

Not in the mood to argue, Haru gave a mental shrug. "Alright."

"Any movie you want to watch?"

"No." Haru pulled his shirt off over his head, dropping it on the floor.

"I get to choose then." Haru thought he heard a breath that was pushed out harder than the rest, almost like a light chuckle. Or maybe a snort. "We'll meet at six, is that okay?"

"Yeah, sure. Bye."

Rin grunted something like "yeah, bye" and hung up. Setting the phone beside the sink bowl, Haru slid off his pants and got the water running.

* * *

That night, Haru received a text.

His hair still drying in clumps from his bath, Haru reached over toward the bedside table where his phone sat and gave it a cursory glance.

_goodnight haru_

It was from Rin. Haru put his phone back on the table and went over to his closet, rummaging through the pile of clothes dumped in the back.

The phone bleeped again. Haru ignored it and tossed his clothes into the gap that he had made, among the rest of his shirts. Stripped of all clothing save for a pair of shorts, Haru returned to his bed and crawled in between the sheets. He turned off the lights, but the screen of his phone remained stubbornly lit.

Reluctantly he slid it toward him and stared down at it.

_i said goodnight!_

Haru sighed.

_shut up and go to sleep_

A few seconds passed. Then a few more. Haru found himself staring at the phone one, two, three minutes later, fingers poised to send another reply, but there still wasn't anything for him to reply to. Eventually he assumed that Rin had done as he'd said and gone to sleep - which Haru himself should be doing, but Rin's stupid text had distracted him from that.

The phone clattered on the table and Haru turned over, drawing the blanket underneath his chin.

He closed his eyes.

He turned over on his other side.

He kicked a foot out from underneath the blanket.

_Not tired anyway_, Haru thought, hauling himself up to a sitting position. _Not tired at all…_

His fingers crept through the darkness, until they met a wooden surface. Searching blindly, it took him a moment to locate his phone.

He pressed a key on it.

_Of course he wouldn't reply after that_, Haru thought, and made to put the phone aside for the last time. But his hand stopped midair and changed course, settling down beside him on the mattress. He lay back down, burying the side of his face into his pillow.

He thought about sitting in a movie theater with Rin and wondered how many times he'd done that before, how many times he'd had to sit in a movie theater with his dates, sharing popcorn, laughing or crying or screaming depending on what was shown onscreen, and if he always let his date choose the movie to watch and why exactly he was so determined to treat them _that _well, if what Nagisa said was true.

It wasn't as if they ever stayed together for longer than a week.

His eyelids felt heavy.

He wondered if it was the same every time, or if each date to the movies was a little different - a little better, a little worse, a little more fun, a little boring - and what theirs would be like.

Because a date was what this was called, wasn't it - something that Haru didn't entirely understand the point of but would go along with anyway, something _he_ had initiated without actually meaning to.

His breathing slowed.

Suddenly, the coldness underneath his fingers vibrated and the screen lit up, illuminating the space around it. His heart lurched in surprise and he fumbled with the phone, turning it over. It was so bright that tears sprang to Haru's eyes when he tried to look directly at it and he had to take a moment to adjust to the light.

When he could finally see properly again, he brought the phone back in front of him and read the message shown on the screen.

_see u tomorrow, haru._

Haru stared dully for a second. Then he forced his fingers, clumsy with sleepiness, to rattle off a quick reply.

_yeah. dont reply now._

He hesitated. Then,

_i'll see you._

He wondered if Rin was still awake.


End file.
